The Graduate Management Admission Search Service® (GMASS®) is a service created by the Graduate Management Admission Council® to facilitate communication between graduate management programs and potential applicants. By using Graduate Management Admission Test® (GMAT®) scores and biographical information from GMAT® test takers, GMASS® locates test takers who meet selection criteria specified by a school and then sends that school only the names and addresses of the test takers identified. (These criteria and information on individuals can only be accessed by authorized business school admissions professionals at recognized schools.)

GMASS® can help you and the schools that are right for you get in contact with one another. Just think of it as a matchmaking service for students and schools. You could meet the school of your dreams through GMASS®!

There are many good reasons to participate in GMASS®:

• It helps you research MBA programs.
• It can broaden your search by including programs you may not have known about or considered previously.
• Participation is completely free.

Being included in GMASS® is easy. When you take the GMAT® exam, you will be asked whether you want schools to contact you. If you choose "yes," then your information will automatically be entered into the GMASS® search service database so schools can find you. If you choose "no," then you will be excluded from the GMASS® database and you will not be contacted by schools that use the service.

When you take the GMAT® exam, you will be asked several questions about yourself. All the questions are optional, but the more you answer, the more likely schools will be able to find you. Participating  schools may search using any of the following criteria:

• personal information—ethnic background and state of legal residence (for U.S. citizens only), gender, age, number of years of full-time work experience, native language, and citizenship
• geographic information—zip code (for U.S. residents only), state/province, and country of residence
• educational background—GMAT® score, level of educational experience, undergraduate grade point average, undergraduate major, and date of graduation
• educational objective—intended area of concentration; work intentions while pursuing a degree; intended method of graduate study; preference of full-time, part-time or executive MBA program; degree objective; preferred region of the world for graduate study; and planned date of enrollment

Most schools will contact you by e-mail or regular mail when the GMASS® database indicates that you meet their selection criteria. Their information may include program brochures, applications, program overviews, invitations to informational events, and fliers.

The Graduate Management Admission Council® takes your privacy and rights seriously. Before business school admissions professionals can search for prospective applicants using GMASS®, we require that they agree to strict rules of conduct so you will not receive "spam" (misleading mass-marketing e-mail messages) and so you will always have the option of telling schools when you no longer wish to be contacted. We also require schools to agree not to use any information about our GMAT® test takers for discriminatory purposes.

Just so we can be sure that participating schools adhere to these standards of conduct, we require that they copy us on correspondence with the potential applicants they locate through GMASS®. If you have any concerns about a communication that you received through a school that found your name through the GMASS® search service, please direct e-mail to webmaster@gmac.com.

GMASS®, GMAT®, and the Graduate Management Admission Council® are registered trademarks of the Graduate Management Admission Council®. All rights reserved.